Archived news and commentary: August 23 - 29, 2004

2004/09/27 - 2004/10/03
2004/09/20 - 2004/09/26
2004/09/13 - 2004/09/19
2004/09/06 - 2004/09/12
2004/08/30 - 2004/09/05
2004/08/23 - 2004/08/29
2004/08/16 - 2004/08/22
2004/08/09 - 2004/08/15
2004/08/02 - 2004/08/08
2004/07/26 - 2004/08/01
2004/07/19 - 2004/07/25
2004/07/12 - 2004/07/18
2004/07/05 - 2004/07/11
2004/06/28 - 2004/07/04

Sunday, August 29, 2004

News and commentary:

"More Than 100,000 Protest Bush in NYC" (David Espo, AP/Yahoo! News, 2004/08/29)
"More than 100,000 demonstrators marched past a heavily fortified Republican convention hall on Sunday, chanting denunciations of the administration and the war in Iraq (news - web sites) as delegates flocked to the city to nominate President Bush for four more years in the White House. ...
Polls show the war in Iraq has become increasingly unpopular in recent months, and the throng of protesters filling 20 city blocks on a steamy Manhattan afternoon underscored that. "No More Bush," and "No More Years," were two of the more popular chants. "Bush Lies, Who Dies?," read some of the signs.
Several protesters carried flag-draped, coffin-shaped boxes through the streets, meant to draw attention to the U.S. death toll in Iraq."

"Death and the maiden in Iran" (Alasdair Palmer, The Sunday Telegraph, 2004/08/29)
Palmer on the silence surrounding the execution of the 16 year old girl Atefeh Rajabi in Iran:
"That disgraceful and disgusting "punishment" has excited a great deal of condemnation in Iran among the reformists. As far as I can see, it has not produced any comment here. Amnesty International issued a statement expressing outrage at the execution (the tenth of a child in Iran since 1990) - but no British newspaper or television station has reported this.
Why not? The two extremes of pro- and anti-Muslim sentiment in Britain are now united in not expecting even the most minimal ethical standards from Islamic countries such as Iran: the pros because they think that Islamic laws should not be criticised for fear of giving offence; the antis because they think all Muslims are just a bunch of irredeemable barbarians.
Those two extreme views have infected media coverage. What would be headline news if it happened in America (can you imagine the response if a 16-year-old girl was executed for having sex in Texas?) is, because it happens in an Islamic state, apparently too banal to count." (See also: "IRAN: Amnesty International outraged at reported execution of a 16 year old girl" (Amnesty International, 2004/08/23) and "The Heartbreaking And Enraging Story of a 16 Year Old Girl’s Execution Past Sunday in the Town of Neka, Iran" (ActivistChat, 2004/08/19))

"Now for the hard part" (Walter Russell Mead, The Boston Globe, 2004/08/29)
The 9/11 Report II: "To some degree the commission is still whistling in the dark - still refusing to accept just how difficult our position has become. American interests will continue to lead the United States to make policy choices that are not widely popular in the Middle East.
In the short term, Iran's nuclear program gives us two unacceptable options. On the one hand, a military conflict over Iran's nuclear program - even one limited to preemptive strikes against its nuclear facilities - could unleash yet another wave of anti-Americanism in the region and further inflame the situation in Iraq. This is not the backdrop we need for an ambitious "hearts and minds" program to win friends and influence people in the wider Middle East.
On the other hand, sitting back while Iran develops these weapons and, perhaps, assists some of its terrorist allies in acquiring nuclear and radiological weapons, will dramatically weaken America's position throughout the region, greatly increase the chance of further conflicts, and set the stage for new and more terrible wars between Israel and its neighbors. This course, too, is unlikely to make us safer or reduce the power of fanatics and terrorists throughout the Middle East. ...
Crush Al Qaeda, pacify Iraq, block Iran's nuclear ambitions, stabilize Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, restart the peace process between Palestinians and Israelis, maintain the security of the world's oil supply, push Arab leaders to reform without leaving them vulnerable to power grabs by terrorist fanatics - and do all this while making more friends for the United States in a region where most people dislike or even hate us. That is our task."

"The 9/11 Report: A Dissent" (Richard A. Posner, The New York Times, 2004/08/29)
The 9/11 Report I: "To conclude after a protracted, expensive and much ballyhooed investigation that there is really rather little that can be done to reduce the likelihood of future terrorist attacks beyond what is being done already, at least if the focus is on the sort of terrorist attacks that have occurred in the past rather than on the newer threats of bioterrorism and cyberterrorism, would be a real downer -- even a tad un-American. Americans are not fatalists. When a person dies at the age of 95, his family is apt to ascribe his death to a medical failure. When the nation experiences a surprise attack, our instinctive reaction is not that we were surprised by a clever adversary but that we had the wrong strategies or structure and let's change them and then we'll be safe. Actually, the strategies and structure weren't so bad; they've been improved; further improvements are likely to have only a marginal effect; and greater dangers may be gathering of which we are unaware and haven't a clue as to how to prevent."

"Going to Extremes" (James Traub, The New York Times Magazine, 2004/08/29)
"Many of us who are old enough to have imbibed the revolutionary pieties of the 60's have spent years clearing the fumes from our head. We've sworn off the glamour and cheap satisfaction of the categorical judgment and seen through what the critic Leon Wieseltier recently called the ''delirious release from the complexities of historical and political understanding.'' We've found in the works of formerly despised liberals, like Isaiah Berlin, a kind of moral imperative in the making of distinctions, and in skepticism before absolutes. And we learned that power is not, itself, rotten, and that the overall arrangement of things in America is no worse than elsewhere, and generally a great deal better. ...
I suppose that's why I found myself loathing ''Fahrenheit 9/11.'' Michael Moore seemed determined to resurrect the moral posturing and the apocalyptic suspicions of our youth; indeed, I found the movie's psychic substructure almost more infuriating than its wild accusations. Hadn't we driven a stake through the conviction that everyone who disagrees with us is motivated by evil designs? Are we still -- or rather, once again -- drunk on the heady wine of total denunciation? Can't we get over the idea that the only authentic position is the radical one? Here was the release from complexity in all its giddy delirium."

"Trials and Errors at Guantanamo" (John Hendren, Los Angeles Times, 2004/08/29)
"Unlike the Nazi war crimes trials, which were conducted by seasoned legal specialists with the world looking over their shoulders, the opening round of the tribunals at Guantanamo Bay naval base last week seemed mired in uncertainty, inexperience and confusion.
As one session ended, the presiding officer appeared to be so blindsided by a defense maneuver that he sat with his face in his hands before issuing a ruling.
Repeatedly, the translation system broke down. ...
On the orders of retired Maj. Gen. John Altenburg, who has authority over the commissions, fewer than 100 people witnessed each session.
In addition, no one outside the courtroom and neighboring viewing room is ever to see or hear the proceedings.
The trials were not televised, broadcast or photographed. No Nuremberg-like images of alleged war criminals were recorded.
Five human rights workers and 54 journalists from 37 news organizations descended on this U.S.-occupied sliver of Cuba to witness the proceedings. But they had to write fast.
Reporters were allowed only pen and pad. Video cameras carried the courtroom scenes to the viewing room, but no recording was made, officials said." (See also: "Defendant at Guantanamo Bay Says He Is an Al Qaeda Member" (John Hendren, Los Angeles Times, 2004/08/27))

"Ayatollah to the Rescue?" (Jim Hoagland, The Washington Post, 2004/08/29)
"Allawi's publicized role in telling U.S. commanders when to start and stop attacks has helped Bush deflect political responsibility for the risks that U.S. soldiers took. But it also has blurred who is responsible for what in nominally sovereign Iraq, which is supposed to be moving toward national elections in January. This leaves Iraqis -- and Americans -- confused about U.S. intentions, responsibilities and strategy.
For a quasi-occupying power, as the United States is in Iraq today, the worst of all worlds is to have put in place a local regime that the outside power must support at all costs but does not control.
There were flashes of that worst-case scenario in the assault, as the governor and police chief of Najaf kept pouring oil on the fire and drawing U.S. forces deeper into confrontation. Their repeated ugly threats and brief detention of Arab and Western journalists in Najaf also suggested the difficulties that Iraq will face in trying to hold free and democratic elections five months from now."

"After 3 Weeks of Fighting in Najaf, 1 Riddle: Who Won?" (Dexter Filkins, The New York Times, 2004/08/29)
"To view the limits of Mr. Sadr's power, one need travel no further than the neighborhoods of Najaf itself. Many Iraqis there blame Mr. Sadr for the nonstop shooting and bombing that decimated the central part of the city and damaged the holy shrine itself.
"Moktada al-Sadr is the enemy," said Saleh Allawi Jasem, a 48-year-old Najaf businessman who spent most of August huddled in his home, as the American military and the Mahdi Army fought for control of his neighborhood. "I am happy that the Americans pushed him out of my neighborhood."
Indeed, the relentless military assault that unfolded here last week could not possibly have been carried out if Mr. Sadr were as large and popular a figure as he sometimes seems to be. In all likelihood, the American operation to expel the Mahdi Army from the shrine could never have gone forward without the sanction of some very powerful Iraqi leaders - including Ayatollah Sistani himself."

"FBI uncovers 'Israeli mole' in the Pentagon" (Julian Coman, The Sunday Telegraph, 2004/08/29)
"Although yet to be identified, the suspected agent has worked for over a year in the office of Douglas Feith, the third-ranking official at the Department of Defence, according to American government officials. Mr Feith played a key role in the lead-up to the war with Iraq, briefing the White House on supposed links between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda.
Investigators suspect the aide of passing classified documents about American policy on Iran and Iraq to a Washington-based lobbying firm, the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee. AIPAC officials are believed to have handed the documents to Israeli intelligence. ...
Among other breaches of secrecy, the analyst is believed to have smuggled out a presidential directive on policy towards Iran. An administration official said that this put the Israelis "inside the loop", while policy towards Iran was still "in the draft phase". The Israeli government could then work to influence the outcome." (See also: "FBI Probe Targets Pentagon Official: Analyst Allegedly Gave Data to Israel" (Bradley Graham and Thomas E. Ricks, The Washington Post, 2004/08/28))

Saturday, August 28, 2004

News and commentary:

"POWEL KILLER GO HOME"
(Derek Gatopoulos, AP, 2004/08/28)
Not the brightest bunch, these descendants of Aristotle and Plato: "Members of Greece's Communist Party stand on the ancient Acropolis Hill over a giant banner protesting against a visit of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell which also reads in Greek 'Don't forget that civilians are being slaughtered in Najaf and a wall is being built in Palestine' in Athens on Saturday, Aug. 28, 2004. The Communist Party is planning a demonstration in Athens against a weekend visit by Powell."

"2 Arrested in Alleged NYC Subway Bomb Plot" (Tom Hays, AP/Yahoo! News, 2004/08/28)
"A U.S. citizen and a Pakistani national were arrested in an alleged plot to bomb a subway station in midtown Manhattan and possibly other locations around the city, police said Saturday.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the men were not thought to be connected to al-Qaida or any other international terrorist organization, although he said they expressed hatred for America. ...
The men had been under police surveillance and had discussed placing explosives at the Herald Square subway station and stations at 42nd and 59th streets, Kelly said. The men never obtained explosives, he said.
"It was clear that they had the intention to cause damage, to kill people," Kelly said. "They did not immediately have the means to do it."
He identified the men as Shahawar Matin Siraj, 21, a Pakistani living in Queens, and James Elshafay, 19, a U.S. citizen living on Staten Island.
Kelly said the men visited the Herald Square 34th Street station — one block from Madison Square Garden, the site of the convention — on Aug. 21.
After walking through the station, the pair drew diagrams of the station "in order to facilitate the later planting of the explosive devices," then gave the drawings to a paid police informant, according to the complaint.
In secretly recorded conversations with the informant, Siraj said he was "ready for jihad" and Elshafay "discussed his hatred for the 'Zionists' and expressed ... his solidarity with the Palestinian people," according to the complaint.
The men were being charged with conspiracy to blow up the station, which is central to a large commercial district, including Macy's flagship department store."

"Explosives Found in Both Crashed Russian Jets" (Ron Popeski, Reuters, 2004/08/28)
"Experts have found explosives in both Russian jets that crashed simultaneously this week, investigators said Saturday, supporting theories that bombs downed the aircraft before elections in volatile Chechnya.
The FSB security service said Friday search teams had turned up traces of explosives in the first of the planes which crashed Tuesday, killing 90. Its new disclosure was on the eve of a poll certain to return a pro-Moscow Chechen president.
"Additional examination of the fragments of the Tu-134 aircraft which crashed Tuesday ... has revealed traces of hexogen," an FSB spokesman said by telephone.
Hexogen, more widely known as RDX, was used in previous attacks blamed on Chechen militants." (See also: "Plane crash a terror attack: authorities" (AFP/news.com.au, 2004/08/27))

"A Conspiracy Too Vast" (Noemie Emery, The Weekly Standard, from the 2004/09/06 issue)
"The minute the ads of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth had begun to draw blood, the Democrats attacked them as a giant, malevolent plot. The same plot, drawn up by a diabolical genius of unsurpassed malice and cunning, that has been causing Democrats trouble for so many years now, always unwarranted, always malicious, and always unfair. In today's Democratic imagination, there are no political accidents, no spontaneous movements, no genuine issues, and never a genuine weakness in a candidate. There are only diversions, cooked up and cleverly sold to a gullible public, "dirty tricks" supervised by conniving Republican masterminds, and schemes to undermine democracy. ...
A "dirty trick" is any tactic used against Democrats in an election they later lose. Dirty tricks are invariably orchestrated by a dark genius (think Karl Rove or Lee Atwater), who has the power to exert mind control over vast populations. Usually, the trick consists of hanging a lantern on a glaring flaw in a Democrat that anyone not a Democrat could already spot miles away." (See also: "Proof? Who Needs Proof?" (James Taranto, Best of the Web Today, 2004/08/27))

"Insurgents Quit Mosque in Najaf After Peace Deal" (Dexter Filkins, The New York Times, 2004/08/28)
"As the Mahdi Army fighters did not surrender themselves, neither did they give up their guns. Instead, they took the assault rifles and rocket launchers with which they had commandeered the shrine and loaded them onto donkey carts, covering them with blankets, grain sacks and television sets, and sending them away.
Hours later, Mahdi fighters, some still dressed in their signature black uniforms, could be seen stashing rocket launchers in crates and pushing them into roadside shops. ...
But for most of the Mahdi fighters still standing, morale seemed undiminished. In their days battling the Americans, they had constructed their own mythic tale about themselves, as the stalwart defenders of the shrine against a foreign army and its local satraps. It mattered little that they were vacating the place they had sought to defend or that the city had been destroyed in the event."

"Iraq Militants Leave Shrine in Peace Deal" (Abdul Hussein Al-Obeidi, AP/Yahoo! News, 2004/08/28)
"Militants filed out of the Imam Ali Shrine, closed the doors behind them and turned over the keys to Iraq's top Shiite cleric Friday, symbolizing their acceptance of a peace deal to end three weeks of devastating fighting in this holy city.
By Friday afternoon, dozens of Iraqi police and national guardsmen surrounded the shrine compound — many kissing its doors and weeping — as the government began to re-establish control over the Old City of Najaf. Some residents of the devastated neighborhood waved to them and yelled out, "Welcome. Welcome." ...
Dozens of the militants loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr piled their Kalashnikov rifles in front of the firebrand cleric's office here, but thousands of others were believed to be still armed, and some were seen pushing carts full of machine-guns and rocket launchers through a narrow alley."

"Defendant at Guantanamo Bay Says He Is an Al Qaeda Member" (John Hendren, Los Angeles Times, 2004/08/27)
"A Yemeni prisoner confessed to being a member of Al Qaeda during a preliminary hearing before a military commission Thursday, but was cut off in mid-sentence by the presiding official and was not allowed to complete his statement.
In a show-stopping moment in the third day of military hearings for suspected terrorists, Ali Hamza Ahamad Sulayman al Bahlul said in Arabic: "People of the entire globe, know that I testify that the American government put me under no pressure. I am from Al Qaeda and the relationship between me and Sept 11th …"
Bahlul was halted by retired Army Col. Peter Brownback III, who told his four fellow commission members serving as judges to disregard the statement." (See also: "Bin Laden Driver Faces Guantanamo Hearing" (Paisley Dodds, AP/Yahoo! News, 2004/08/24))

"FBI Probe Targets Pentagon Official: Analyst Allegedly Gave Data to Israel" (Bradley Graham and Thomas E. Ricks, The Washington Post, 2004/08/28)
"The FBI is investigating a mid-level Pentagon official who specializes in Iranian affairs for allegedly passing classified information to Israel, and arrests in the case could come as early as next week, officials at the Pentagon and other government agencies said last night.
The name of the person under investigation was not officially released, but two sources identified him as Larry Franklin. He was described as a desk officer in the Pentagon's Near East and South Asia Bureau, one of six regional policy sections. Franklin worked at the Defense Intelligence Agency before moving to the Pentagon's policy branch three years ago and is nearing retirement, the officials said. Franklin could not be located for comment last night.
One government official familiar with the investigation said it is not yet clear whether the case will rise to the level of espionage or end up involving lesser charges such as improper disclosure or mishandling of classified information."

Added in archive:
"The Extremities of Nicholson Baker" (Leon Wieselter, The New York Times, 2004/08/08)
"Assassination Porn" (Timothy Noah, Slate, 2004/08/05)

Friday, August 27, 2004

News and commentary:

"Najaf to New York? Better: New York to Najaf" (Marc Cooper, marccooper.com, 2004/08/27)
"Sadness. More sadness than anger is what overcame me when I read the latest Nation magazine column by Naomi Klein. I’ll grant it has a catchy title: “From Najaf to New York.” But this column by Klein, who has earned the admiration of a new generation of dissidents with a notable intellectual keen-ness, unwittingly reveals the moral confusion that clouds the vision, even the rationality, of much of the anti-war movement. ...
And, alas, I can only conclude that the column is a forthright apology for the religio-fascist militias of Muqtada Al Sadr. Indeed, it’s damn near a call for the peace movement to join in solidarity with his Mahdi Army.
Klein begins her argument by understandably recoiling at the thought of an all-out U.S. Army assault on Najaf and its holy shrines:

It's not just that sacred burial sites are being desecrated with fresh blood; it's that Americans appear unaware of the depths of this offense, and the repercussions it will have for decades to come. The Imam Ali Shrine is not a run-of-the-mill holy site; it's the Shiite equivalent of the Sistine Chapel.

True enough. But it’s Al Sadr’s forces, not U.S. troops, that have occupied the shrine for weeks, using it as a base and effectively holding it hostage. This is a mere quibble, however, compared to Klein’s central point:

And Muqtada al-Sadr and his followers are not just another group of generic terrorists out to kill Americans; their opposition to the occupation represents the overwhelmingly mainstream sentiment in Iraq. Yes, if elected Sadr would try to turn Iraq into a theocracy like Iran, but for now his demands are for direct elections and an end to foreign occupation. ...

Klein, nevertheless, winds up demanding that the coming week’s peace marches bring “Najaf to New York.” What the hell does that mean? That peace marchers identify themselves as a domestic Mahdi Army resisting the forces of the American Empire? Should they also endorse Sharia – Islamic Law— while they’re at it?" (See also: "Bring Najaf to New York" (Naomi Klein, The Nation, 2004/08/26))

"Montreal man downed U.S. Plane, CSIS told" (Stewart Bell, National Post, 2004/08/27)
"A captured al-Qaeda operative has told Canadian intelligence investigators that a Montreal man who trained in Afghanistan alongside the 9/11 hijackers was responsible for the crash of an American Airlines flight in New York three years ago.
Canadian Security Intelligence Service agents were told during five days of interviews with the source that Abderraouf Jdey, a Canadian citizen also known as Farouk the Tunisian, had downed the plane with explosives on Nov. 12, 2001.
The source claimed Jdey had used his Canadian passport to board Flight 587 and "conducted a suicide mission" with a small bomb similar to the one used by convicted shoe bomber Richard Reid, a "Top Secret" Canadian government report says.
But officials said it was unlikely Jdey was actually involved in the crash, which killed 265 people and is considered accidental. The fact that al-Qaeda attributed the crash to Jdey, however, suggests they were expecting him to attack a plane."

"Proof? Who Needs Proof?" (James Taranto, Best of the Web Today, 2004/08/27)
"The New York Times' Stephen Holden reviews "Bush's Brain," a hostile documentary about White House adviser Karl Rove. Holden thinks the movie makes a persuasive case against Rove:

Although few if any of the movie's allegations of unethical behavior by Mr. Rove can be proved, the dirty tricks laid at his doorstep, mostly by association, add up to a pattern of contemptuous disregard for the truth and the arrogant pushing of legal limits without technically breaking the law.

Doesn't a movie that alleges unethical behavior without being able to prove it, and that traffics in guilt "mostly by association," add up to a pattern of contemptuous disregard for the truth?" (See also: "Postulating a Dark Side to a Bush Operative's Work" (Stephen Holden, The New York Times, 2004/08/27))

"Why Revoke Tariq Ramadan's U.S. Visa?" (Daniel Pipes, New York Sun/danielpipes.org, 2004/08/27)
Pipes on the Ramadan affair, with loads of links for further reading:
"It's not every day that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security revokes a visa issued to a Swiss-national scholar scheduled to teach at one of America's premier universities. But this has just happened, and it's a good thing too.
The Swiss scholar is Tariq Ramadan. He is Islamist royalty – his maternal grandfather, Hasan al-Banna, founded the Muslim Brotherhood, probably the single most powerful Islamist institution of the twentieth century, in Egypt in 1928. ....
Here are some reasons why Mr. Ramadan might have been kept out:

• He has praised the brutal Islamist policies of the Sudanese politician Hassan Al-Turabi. Mr. Turabi in turn called Mr. Ramadan the "future of Islam."
• Mr. Ramadan was banned from entering France in 1996 on suspicion of having links with an Algerian Islamist who had recently initiated a terrorist campaign in Paris.
• Ahmed Brahim, an Algerian indicted for Al-Qaeda activities, had "routine contacts" with Mr. Ramadan, according to a Spanish judge (Baltasar Garzón) in 1999.
• Djamel Beghal, leader of a group accused of planning to attack the American embassy in Paris, stated in his 2001 trial that he had studied with Mr. Ramadan.
• Along with nearly all Islamists, Mr. Ramadan has denied that there is "any certain proof" that Bin Laden was behind 9/11.
• He publicly refers to the Islamist atrocities of 9/11, Bali, and Madrid as "interventions," minimizing them to the point of near-endorsement."

"Blame Reaches To The Pentagon's Top" (Ralph Peters, New York Post, 2004/08/27)
"What went wrong at Abu Ghraib prison? Two reports released this week agree: Woefully deficient planning for post-war Iraq, too few troops and inadequate leadership at the top.
Is anyone surprised?
These are the points that critics of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his cabal of amateurs have been making for a year and a half. They're also the reasons why we've had so much difficulty in Fallujah and Najaf.
The problem isn't that we did the wrong thing. We did a great thing by ridding the world of Saddam Hussein. But we did it needlessly badly. Because we tried to do it on the cheap. Well, the truth is that you don't always get what you pay for — but you never get what you don't pay for.
Why was our military prevented from conducting its standard, detailed planning processes? Why were troop levels held artificially low?
Because ideologues in the Bush administration feared that, if the American people were given honest answers about the potential cost, it might be politically impossible to go to war.
Add another sin to the list for which those ideology-junkies have to answer: a lack of faith in the American people. Paul Wolfowitz, by far the most impressive of the group, notoriously remarked that the American people have to be led to do the right thing.
Really? Well, we don't need to be led by the nose by unelected officials who care more for theories than they do for their fellow citizens." (See also: "A Rumsfeld Vindication" (The Wall Street Journal, 2004/08/26))

"Plane crash a terror attack: authorities" (AFP/news.com.au, 2004/08/27)
"At least one of the two Russian plane crashes that killed some 90 people this week was the result of a terrorist attack, the top Russian security service spokesman said.
"According to our initial investigation, at least one of the air crashes, the one in the Rostov region, came as a result of a terror attack," spokesman Sergei Ignatchenko told ITAR-TASS news agency.
Investigators said they had found traces of explosive material in the wreckage of one of the two planes that crashed in southern Russia, Russian news agencies reported.
ITAR-TASS and Interfax both repeated news that one of the passengers aboard the flight to Sochi was a woman from Chechnya whose remains have yet to be claimed by friends or relatives.
Ignachenko said investigators had so far found no evidence of explosives on the other plane which crashed outside the central city of Tula while on a flight to the southern city of Volgograd.
Earlier, a website known for militant Muslim comment published a claim of responsibility for the crashes of two Russian airliners, connecting the action to Russia's fight against separatists in Chechnya."

"Bush's indelible imprint" (Aluf Benn, Haaretz, 2004/08/27)
"Some cliches become permanent fixtures in public debates until someone takes the trouble to check out their validity. One of them is the familiar argument that the Bush administration is no longer involved in the attempt to achieve peace between Israel and the Arabs, and that it is now allowing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to determine the character of its Middle East policy. ...
These claims have dogged Bush and his team since he took office and have taken their places under the spotlight once more with the approaching presidential elections. The New York Times stated in an editorial that appeared this past week: "No recent administration has been less engaged in the pursuit of Middle East peace than the Bush administration." ...
However, this criticism does not hold water. The Bush administration, which appears indifferent, has been far more involved than any previous administrations in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and has courageously presented the two sides with practical objectives and demands, instead of making do with the statement that the U.S. cannot want a peace settlement more than the parties themselves - a statement that has justified past failures. (Also: "The height of the peace process during the Clinton era, the Camp David summit in July 2000, was a classic example of inept diplomacy, an arrogant and rash move whose initiators failed to take into account the realpolitik, misunderstood Arafat and brought upon both Israelis and Palestinians the disaster of the intifada.")

"The Pressure-Cooker Theory" (Charles Krauthammer, The Washington Post, 2004/08/27)
"It is not often that a losing presidential candidate (Al Gore) compares the man who defeated him to both Hitler and Stalin. It is not often that a senior party leader (Edward Kennedy) accuses a sitting president of starting a war ("cooked up in Texas") to gain political advantage for his reelection.
The loathing goes far beyond the politicians. Liberals as a body have gone quite around the twist. I count one all-star rock tour, three movies, four current theatrical productions and five bestsellers (a full one-third of the New York Times list) variously devoted to ridiculing, denigrating, attacking and devaluing this president, this presidency and all who might, God knows why, support it.
How to explain? With apologies to Dr. Freud, I propose the Pressure Cooker Theory of Hydraulic Release.
The hostility, resentment, envy and disdain, all superheated in Florida, were not permitted their natural discharge. Came Sept. 11 and a lid was forced down. ... For two long, agonizing years, they had to stifle and suppress. It was the most serious case of repression since Freud's Anna O. went limp. The forced deference nearly killed them. And then, providentially, they were saved. The clouds parted and bad news rained down like manna: WMDs, Abu Ghraib, Richard Clarke, Paul O'Neill, Joe Wilson and, most important, continued fighting in Iraq. ...
The result has been volcanic. The subject of one prominent new novel is whether George W. Bush should be assassinated. This is all quite unhinged. Good God. What if Bush is reelected? If they lose to him again, Democrats will need more than just consolation. They'll need therapy."

"Iraqis flock to shrine after deal" (BBC News, 2004/08/27)
"Thousands of Iraqis have been pouring into the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf as part of a peace deal to end three weeks of fighting with US-led forces.
Shia Muslim clerics reached agreement overnight on the withdrawal of both militants from the shrine and US-led military forces from the holy city.
The pilgrims arriving at the shrine are due to escort out fighters loyal to radical preacher Moqtada Sadr. ...
News agencies said an order was broadcast over the mosque's loudspeakers for the fighters to disarm.
"Moqtada Sadr calls on his supporters to leave the Imam Ali shrine with the demonstrators at 1000 (0600 GMT)... and to disarm," it said."

Thursday, August 26, 2004

News and commentary:

"Kidnapped Italian Journalist Said Killed" (Mariam Fam, AP/Yahoo! News, 2004/08/26)
"An Arab television station said Friday it received a video showing the killing of Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni, who was kidnapped by militants who threatened to execute him if Italy did not withdraw troops from Iraq.
The video received by Al-Jazeera appeared to show Baldoni's killing, but the station declined to broadcast the footage out of sensitivity to its viewers, said station spokesman Jihad Ballout.
"To the best of our knowledge, it indicates that the hostage-takers carried out their threat," Ballout said. He declined to say how the journalist was killed. ...
Baldoni, a part-time journalist whose main job is as an advertising copy writer, went to Iraq for the news magazine Diario. On a Web log he kept while in Iraq, he described himself as a "war tourist," although in other reported comments he insisted he wasn't simply out for cheap thrills.
In an interview broadcast on Al-Jazeera on Wednesday night, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini described Baldoni as a man of peace who was in Iraq 'to tell the tale of the suffering of the Iraqi people.'" (See also Enzo Baldoni's warblog: Bloghdad. Also: "Italian Journalist Reportedly Kidnapped" (Ravi Nessman, AP/Yahoo! News, 2004/08/24))

"Live: Olympics day 13" (BBC News, 2004/08/26)
Scandalous behaviour by the Greek crowd, booing and whistling at the three Americans, which only made me hope that they would kick ass. Which they did:
"Pre-race favourite Shawn Crawford stormed to victory in the 200m, ahead of fellow Americans Justin Gatlin and Bernard Williams.
The start was delayed by almost 10 minutes as the home crowd voiced their support for absent defending champion Kostas Kenteris.
And at the finish, the boos rang out again in the Olympic Stadium." (See also: "Suspicions Raised as Two Sprinters Pull Out of Games" (Joe Drape and Anthee Carassava, The New York Times, 2004/08/18): "The reaction of many Greeks to the troubles of Kenteris and Thanou has caught the rest of the world by surprise.
Amid the coverage by Greece's top national newspapers and television stations are articles and broadcast reports that portray the sprinters as victims of a plan, mainly involving American Olympic sponsors and officials, to keep them off the track and ensure victories by United States sprinters.")

"Aide: Al-Sistani Brokers Najaf Peace Deal" (Abdul Hussein Al-Obeidi, AP/Yahoo! News, 2004/08/26)
"Rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr agreed Thursday to a peace deal presented by top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani to end three weeks of fighting in the holy city of Najaf, according to a top aide to al-Sistani.
Al-Sistani, the most influential cleric among Iraq's Shiite majority, reached the deal in direct talks with al-Sadr in the evening, only hours after making a dramatic return to Najaf.
The five-point plan called for Najaf and Kufa to be declared weapons-free cities, for all foreign forces to withdraw from Najaf, for police to be in charge of security, for the government to compensate those harmed by the fighting and for a census to be taken to prepare for elections expected in the country by January."

"A Rumsfeld Vindication" (The Wall Street Journal, 2004/08/26)
Abu Ghraib V: "The report offers invaluable perspective on the abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib and is devastating to those who've sought to pin blame on an alleged culture of lawlessness going all the way to the top of the Bush Administration. John Kerry must be even more disoriented by the Swift boat story than he appears if he thinks now's the time to call for Mr. Rumsfeld's resignation.
"The behavior of our troops is so much better than it was in World War II," Mr. Schlesinger told us yesterday, by way of comparison. Of the Abu Ghraib photos, he added, "It is preposterous that what these pictures show is we were prepared to use torture to get information," as Senator Ted Kennedy and others have alleged. Rather, Mr. Schlesinger characterized the photographed Abu Ghraib abuses as "free-lance activities on the part of the night shift," echoing the testimony we've heard so far during the courts martial for the accused. ...
Looking at mistreatment both at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere, the report says that 'No approved procedures called for or allowed the kinds of abuse that in fact occurred. There is no evidence of a policy of abuse promulgated by senior officials or military authorities.'" (See also: "Report: Abu Ghraib was 'Animal House' at night" (CNN.com, 2004/08/24))

"Iraq Prison Probe Faults Intelligence Unit" (John J. Lumpkin, AP/Yahoo! News, 2004/08/26)
Abu Ghraib IV: "More than two dozen soldiers and contractors attached to a military intelligence unit at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq approved or took part in abuses of Iraqi detainees, an Army investigation has found in one of the most comprehensive looks to date at the scandal that damaged America's image around the world.
A few of the abuses amounted to torture, Maj. Gen. George Fay, one of the chief investigators, said Wednesday.
"This is clearly a deviation from everything we've taught people on how to behave," said Gen. Paul Kern, who oversaw the investigation. "There were failures of leadership, of people seeing these things and not correcting them. There were failures of discipline."
Officers in charge of the prison were negligent in the training and management of their troops, and some may face criminal charges, Army officials said. Until now, just seven lower-ranking military police soldiers have been charged. ...
The investigation report says the violent and sexual abuses — particularly those captured in the now-famous pictures of naked and frightened prisoners — were mostly the work of a group of guards and military intelligence personnel who were not conducting interrogations but instead amusing themselves." (See also the full report [PDF]: "Investigation of Intelligence Activities At Abu Ghraib" (wid.ap.org, 2004/08/25))

Wednesday, August 25, 2004

News and commentary:

"NO 9011"
(WFTW.com, 2004/08/25)

"Toy In Candy Bag Appears To Depict 9/11 Attack" (WFTW.com, 2004/08/25)
"A bag of candy shocked a local grandmother and will most likely shock you. The toy inside looks like a plane flying right into the Twin Towers. Now, that toy is off some local store shelves because of our story.
It doesn't stop there, though. That grandmother was surprised, again, when she read the numbers imprinted on the toy.
Until Thursday afternoon, the little toys were on sale to kids around Central Florida -- two towers with a jetliner in between that appears to be crashing into one of the buildings. They come in packages along with candy."

"The Important News About Iraq That Has Gone Unreported" (Amir Taheri, Arab News, 2004/08/25)
"The most important is that post-liberation Iraq, defying great odds, has succeeded in carrying out its political reform agenda on schedule. A governing council was set up at the time promised. It in turn, created a provisional government right on schedule. Next, municipal elections were held in almost all parts of the country. Then followed the drafting of a new democratic and pluralist constitution. Then came the formal end of the occupation and the appointing of a new interim government.
Earlier this month, the political reconstruction program reached a new high point with the convening of the National Congress.
Bringing together some 1300 men and women representing all ethnic, religious, linguistic and political groups, the congress was the first genuinely pluralistic assembly of Iraqis at that level. ...
The events mentioned above, and largely ignored by the media, indicate a remarkably rapid progress toward democratization in Iraq. And, yet, at every step we had countless doomsayers who predicted that this or that step would not be taken because of “security problems.” ...
Thus what Iraq is experiencing now is a much bigger struggle, a cultural war, whose outcome will determine not only the future of that suffering nation but also the political prospects of almost all Arab countries.
On one side in this cultural war one finds the remnants of Saddamism, including Sadr who, although a victim of the tyrant, remains a Saddamite in terms of political practice. This side has been reinforced by hundreds, perhaps thousands, of non-Iraqi fascists who are determined to plunge Iraq into chaos.
On the other side of this cultural war one finds all those Iraqis who have understood that the politics of mass murder and terror is not the best that their nation could hope for."

"Iraq's Sistani Returns, Plans to End Najaf Crisis" (Michael Georgy, Reuters, 2004/08/25)
"Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric made a sudden return to the country on Wednesday and said he had a plan to end an uprising in the "burning city" of Najaf, where fighting is creeping ever closer to its holiest shrine.
Aides to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said the cleric, the most powerful voice of moderation in the tormented country, would unveil an initiative to get Shi'ite rebels out of the Imam Ali mosque. They gave no details.
Sistani also called for Iraqis to march on Najaf, something that could escalate passions among majority Shi'ites. ...
"We ask all believers to volunteer to go with us to Najaf," Sistani said in a statement read out on his behalf in Basra by his aide Hayder al-Safi. 'I have come for the sake of Najaf and I will stay in Najaf until the crisis ends.'"

"Two Russian Planes Crash, Hijack Feared" (Oleg Shchedrov, Reuters/Yahoo! News, 2004/08/25)
"Two Russian passenger planes carrying more than 80 people crashed almost simultaneously late on Tuesday, prompting concerns of a possible terrorist attack.
Interfax news agency quoted a government source on Wednesday as saying one plane, carrying more than 40 passengers and crew, sent a hijack alarm before crashing near the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.
The planes disappeared within minutes of each other, and Russian news agencies said President Vladimir Putin had ordered the FSB security service to investigate the incidents -- something it would do only under suspicious circumstances. ...
"The fact that both planes took off from one airport and disappeared from radars around the same time can show it was a planned action," Interfax quoted an aviation source as saying.
'In such a situation one could not exclude a terrorist act.'"

Added in archive:
"Iran is Our Enemy's Enemy But Not Our Friend" (Michael Gove, The Sunday Times/ActivistChat, 2004/08/22)
"Elite's pitiful excuse for evil" (Andrew Bolt, The Herald Sun, 2004/08/22)
"Darfur exposes trait of Arab politics" (Salim Mansur, London Free Press, 2004/08/18)

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

News and commentary:

"Italian Journalist Reportedly Kidnapped" (Ravi Nessman, AP/Yahoo! News, 2004/08/24)
"Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni, who has been missing in Iraq since last week, has been kidnapped by militants, according to a video broadcast Tuesday on the pan-Arab Al-Jazeera television station.
The militant group, calling itself "The Islamic Army in Iraq," did not threaten Baldoni directly, but said in a statement it could not guarantee his safety unless Italy announces within 48 hours that it would withdraw its 3,000 troops from Iraq, the network said.
The video showed a passport and other identification belonging to Baldoni and included a clip of a man purported to be the journalist with a black mustache and goatee, his image superimposed on a black background with the militant group's name.
According to an Arabic translation of his comments, the man identified himself as Baldoni and said he was 56 years old. He said he was a journalist, but also a volunteer for the Red Cross. ...
Baldoni is a freelance journalist who went to Iraq for the news magazine Diario. The magazine's editor in chief, Enrico Deaglio, told the ANSA news agency Friday that he last had contact with Baldoni on Wednesday."

"'Jihad' magazine for women on web" (BBC News, 2004/08/24)
"Radical Islamists have launched a new magazine publication on the internet especially for women.
The aim of the magazine is to show women how to reconcile the apparent contradiction of fighting jihad while maintaining family life. ...
The magazine is called Al-Khansa, after a famous Arab woman poet in the early days of Islam, who wrote eulogies to male relatives who had died in battle. ...
One of its encouragements to jihad reads: "The blood of our husbands and the body parts of our children are our sacrificial offering."
The main objective of the magazine seems to be to teach women married to radical Islamists how to support their husbands in their conflict with the authorities.
It also gives them specific advice on how to bring up their children in the path of jihad, how to provide first aid and what kind of physical training women need to prepare themselves for fighting. ...
A section on current affairs also devotes some space to an attack on the recent development of having women presenters on Saudi TV, suggesting it is a kind of prostitution."

"Bin Laden Driver Faces Guantanamo Hearing" (Paisley Dodds, AP/Yahoo! News, 2004/08/24)
"GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - The Guantanamo terror suspect who once worked for Osama bin Laden is to be arraigned Tuesday before a U.S. military commission that allows for secret evidence and no federal appeals, the first person to go before such a tribunal since World War II.
Salim Ahmed Hamdan, 34, says he earned a pittance for his family as bin Laden's driver prior to the Sept. 11 attack. But U.S. officials allege the Yemeni did more, serving as the al-Qaida leader's bodyguard and delivering weapons to his operatives. ...
The Pentagon, in a charge sheet, alleged Hamdan, who is also known as Saqr al Jaddawi, was a bodyguard and personal driver for bin Laden between February 1996 and Nov. 24, 2001.
The Pentagon also alleged that he transported weapons to al-Qaida operatives, trained at an al-Qaida camp and drove in convoys that carried bin Laden. It does not say he took part in any specific acts of violence or participated in the operational planning of any attacks.
With a fourth-grade education and few skills to interpret legal minutia, Hamdan doesn't understand why he's being charged as anything but a civilian, Swift says. Hamden has said he earned a pittance by driving bin Laden before the Sept. 11 attacks, but he denies supporting terrorism."

"Report: Abu Ghraib was 'Animal House' at night" (CNN.com, 2004/08/24)
Abu Ghraib III: "Abuses photographed at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq represented "deviant behavior and a failure of military leadership and discipline" at the facility, but direct and indirect responsibility for those acts and others elsewhere went higher up the chain of command, an independent panel reported Tuesday.
The prison's weaknesses were no secret and they should have been fixed, said James Schlesinger, chairman of the four-member advisory panel appointed by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in early May to investigate abuse allegations. ...
"There was sadism on the night shift at Abu Ghraib, sadism that was certainly not authorized," Schlesinger said. "It was kind of 'Animal House' on the night shift.
Schlesinger noted, however, that there was "no policy of abuse."
"Quite the contrary," Schlesinger said. 'Senior officials repeatedly said that in Iraq, Geneva regulations would apply.'" (See also the report [PDF]: "Final Report of the Independent Panel To Review DoD Detention Operations" (United States Department of Defense, 2004/08/24))

"Iraq's Disappearing Christians" (Daniel Pipes, FrontPageMagazine, 2004/08/24)
Pipes on the church bombings and other assaults against Christians in Iraq: "These assaults have prompted Iraqi Christians, one of the oldest Christian bodies in the world, to leave their country in record numbers. ... Iraq’s minister for displacement and migration, Pascale Icho Warda, estimates that 40,000 Christians left Iraq in the two weeks following the Aug. 1 bombings.
Whereas Christians make up just 3 percent of the country’s population, their proportion of the refugee flow into Syria is estimated anywhere between 20 and 95 percent. Looking at the larger picture, one estimate finds that about 40 percent of the community has left since 1987, when the census found 1.4 million Iraqi Christians. ...
At present rates, the Middle East’s 11 million Christians will in a decade or two have lost their cultural vitality and political significance.
It bears noting that Christians are recapitulating the Jewish exodus of a few decades earlier. Jews in the Middle East numbered about a million in 1948 and today total (outside Israel) a mere 60,000.
In combination, these ethnic cleansings of two ancient religious minorities mark the end of an era. The multiplicity of Middle Eastern life, most memorably celebrated in Lawrence Durrell’s Alexandria Quartet (1957-60), is being reduced to the flat monotony of a single religion and a handful of approved languages. The entire region, not just the affected minorities, is impoverished by this narrowing." (See also: "Coordinated Blasts Hit Iraqi Churches" (Todd Pitman, AP/Yahoo! News, 2004/08/01))

"Iraqi ministers escape attacks" (BBC News, 2004/08/24)
"Two Iraqi interim government ministers have survived apparent assassination attempts in the capital Baghdad.
Convoys carrying the environment and education ministers were attacked on their way to offices in the city.
At least four bodyguards of Environment Minister Mishkat Moumin were killed in the attack on her convoy. She told Reuters news agency she was unharmed.
One bodyguard was reportedly killed when Education Minister Sami al-Mudhaffar's convoy was hit.
Several people are reported to have been wounded."

"Defense Leaders Faulted by Panel in Prison Abuse" (Eric Schmitt, The New York Times, 2004/08/24)
Abu Ghraib II: "A high-level outside panel reviewing American military detention operations has concluded that leadership failures at the highest levels of the Pentagon, Joint Chiefs of Staff and military command in Iraq contributed to an environment in which detainees were abused at Abu Ghraib prison and other facilities, Defense officials said Monday.
The report, set to be released Tuesday, does not explicitly blame Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld for the misconduct or for ordering policies that condoned or encouraged it. But the panel implicitly faults Mr. Rumsfeld, as well as his top civilian and military aides, for not exercising sufficient oversight over a confusing array of policies and interrogation practices at detention centers in Cuba, Afghanistan and Iraq, officials said."

"Iraqi Teens Abused at Abu Ghraib, Report Finds" (Josh White and Thomas E. Ricks, The Washington Post, 2004/08/24)
Abu Ghraib I: "An Army investigation into the Abu Ghraib prison scandal has found that military police dogs were used to frighten detained Iraqi teenagers as part of a sadistic game, one of many details in the forthcoming report that were provoking expressions of concern and disgust among Army officers briefed on the findings.
Earlier reports and photographs from the prison have indicated that unmuzzled military police dogs were used to intimidate detainees at Abu Ghraib, something the dog handlers have told investigators was sanctioned by top military intelligence officers there. But the new report, according to Pentagon sources, will show that MPs were using their animals to make juveniles -- as young as 15 years old -- urinate on themselves as part of a competition.
"There were two MP dog handlers who did use dogs to threaten kids detained at Abu Ghraib," said an Army officer familiar with the report, one of two investigations on detainee abuse scheduled for release this week. 'It has nothing to do with interrogation. It was just them on their own being weird.'"

Monday, August 23, 2004

News and commentary:

"IRAN: Amnesty International outraged at reported execution of a 16 year old girl" (Amnesty International, 2004/08/23)
"Amnesty International today expressed its outrage at the reported execution of a girl who is believed to be 16 years old, Ateqeh Rajabi, in Neka in the northern Iranian province of Mazandaran, on 15 August, for "acts incompatible with chastity" (amal-e manafe-ye 'ofat). Ateqeh Rajabi was reportedly publicly hanged on a street in the city centre of Neka.
Amnesty International is alarmed that this execution was carried out despite reports that Ateqeh Rajabi was not believed to be mentally competent, and that she reportedly did not have access to a lawyer at any stage.
The execution of Ateqeh Rajabi is the tenth execution of a child offender in Iran recorded by Amnesty International since 1990." (See also: "The Heartbreaking And Enraging Story of a 16 Year Old Girl’s Execution Past Sunday in the Town of Neka, Iran" (ActivistChat, 2004/08/19))

"North Korea likens Bush to Hitler" (BBC News, 2004/08/23)
"North Korea has described US President George W Bush as an "imbecile" and a "tyrant that puts Hitler in the shade".
A Foreign Ministry spokesman was responding to comments President Bush made last week in which he described the North's Kim Jong-il as a "tyrant". ...
President Bush explained in a speech in Hudson, Wisconsin, last Wednesday, his decision to ask other countries in the region to help him persuade the North to disarm.
"I felt it was important to bring other countries into the mix, like China and Japan and South Korea and Russia, so there's now five countries saying to the tyrant in North Korea, disarm, disarm," he said.
A North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman, in comments carried by state news agency KCNA, responded: "This clearly proves that the DPRK [North Korea] was right when it commented that he is a political imbecile bereft of even elementary morality.....
"Bush is a tyrant that puts Hitler into the shade and his group of such tyrants is a typical gang of political gangsters," he said." (See also: "DPRK Foreign Ministry Spokesman Blasts Bush's Reckless Remarks" (KCNA, 2004/08/24): "It was none other than Bush who started wars in Iraq and other parts of the world to commit genocide as he pleases.
Bush's assumption of office turned a peaceful world into a pandemonium unprecedented in history as it is plagued with a vicious circle of terrorism and war.
Bush is a tyrant that puts Hitler into the shade and his group of such tyrants is a typical gang of political gangsters.
It is, therefore, by no means fortuitous that Bush is ridiculed and censured as an idiot, an ignorant, a tyrant and a man-killer not only in the U.S. but in various parts of the world.")

"US planes bomb Najaf, peace hopes fade" (AFP/Yahoo! News, 2004/08/23)
"US planes pounded Najaf's cemetery and historic centre near the Imam Ali shrine, dimming hopes of a peaceful end to a near three-week stand-off between US-led Iraqi forces and Shiite militia. ...
Dense black smoke spewed into the sky above the vast Valley of Peace burial ground after a deafening explosion. A second blast was heard in the early afternoon as a US plane flew overhead.
Another two raids targeted the Old City, as heavy gun and mortar fire crashed through the ravaged streets around the city's revered shrine after nightfall and planes continued to hover overhead, an AFP correspondent on the scene said.
A hole one metre (more than three feet) across was punched into the outer wall of the shrine compound the previous night, scattering debris across the marble floor.
Sadr supporters said it had been caused by a missile fired by a US helicopter, although the US military denied it had targeted the shrine."

"The "New" French Anti-Semitism" (Don Feder, FrontPageMagazine, 2004/08/23)
"Speaking of a survival instinct, or lack thereof, if demographic trends continue, France will be a predominately Moslem nation in less than half a century. (Vive le Prophet?)":
"Earlier this month, Jews were attacked at Auschwitz. Their assailants weren’t Arabs, Germans, Poles or members of another group historically associated with anti-Semitism, but Frenchmen – the children of liberty, equality and fraternity. ...
Since the autumn of 2000 (the start of the Palestinians’ latest terrorism campaign against Israel) a wave of anti-Semitism has swept France -- Kristallnacht with Camembert.
Jewish cemeteries have been desecrated. Synagogues and day schools have been firebombed. Snipers have shot at buses carrying Jewish students. Rabbis have been attacked. Jews wearing skullcaps have been beaten in the streets.
The number of anti-Semitic incidents in France increased from 320 in 2001 to 593 in 2003. In the first six months of this year alone, there were more than 500 hate crimes directed at French Jews. Attacks on Jews now account for over 80 percent of all bias-related offenses committed in France each year.
Rabbi Joseph Sitruk, France’s chief rabbi, has asked Jews not to wear skullcaps in public. ("I ask young Jews to be alert, to avoid walking alone, to avoid wearing yarmulkes in the street or in the subway and consequently becoming targets for potential assailants.") The Simon Wiesenthal Center advises Jewish tourists to "exercise extreme caution" when traveling to the land of Vichy." (See also: "Jewish students attacked at Auschwitz" (Jenny Hazan, The Jerusalem Post, 2004/08/09))

"...And it's war with the U.S." (Amir Taheri, New York Post, 2004/08/23)
Iran's, that is: "Sometime next month, three European foreign ministers are expected to fly to Tehran for what is tipped in diplomatic circles as a "last chance" attempt at persuading the Islamic Republic to stop its quest for nuclear weapons. ...
What Straw and his German and French colleagues are trying to do is not new. A similar move was made almost 25 years ago when Germany's then-Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher persuaded his European colleagues to adopt a policy of "critical dialogue" with the Khomeinist regime in Tehran.
In time, Genscher's policy proved to be a total failure. And many now believe that Straw's version of it will also end in disaster.
The reason for those failures is simple: The Khomeinist revolutionary clique that has seized control of the Iranian state is determined to use its power to reshape the Middle East in accordance with its own radical strategy. The rest of the world, including the Europeans, has the choice of either accepting Tehran's agenda or resisting it by all means, including force if and when necessary. ...
With the mullahs determined to develop and deploy nuclear weapons, the stakes in this 25-year war are certain to rise. Regardless of who wins the U.S. presidential election, Iran is likely to emerge as the No. 1 foreign policy preoccupation in Washington next year."

"Journalists seized on Najaf road" (Luke Harding, The Guardian, 2004/08/23)
"Fears were mounting last night for the safety of three western journalists who have disappeared in Iraq on the road between Baghdad and Najaf, where fierce fighting between US forces and Shia militiamen continued yesterday.
Two French journalists, George Malbrunot of Le Figaro and Christian Chesnot of Radio France International, have not been heard of since Thursday, the French foreign ministry said. A third reporter, Italian Enzo Baldoni, has also vanished. The body of his driver was found at the weekend in Najaf, raising fears that he has been kidnapped.
All three journalists had been staying in the same hotel in Baghdad, and were travelling to Najaf to cover the standoff between the US military and the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr."

See the archive for earlier news and commentary.

 

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Oriana Fallaci, R.I.P.

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"On Jew-hatred in Europe" (Oriana Fallaci, dennisprager.com, 2002/04/13)

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